Christ the King, Feast of

CHRIST THE KING, FEAST of. - With the encyclical Quas primas of 11 Dec. 1925, at the conclusion of the Holy Year, Pius XI instituted the liturgical feast of C. R., to be celebrated, with the rite of the first class and with a proper office and Mass, on the last Sunday of October, so that the faithful might remember Christ’s kingship through expiatory and proclamatory rites. This feast thus sums up the thought not only of the Epiphany, a most ancient feast that exalts the royal dignity and universal kingdom of Christ, but of the entire liturgical year, which continually expresses the truth and reality of this kingship. In order to bear more effective witness to this recognition, it was decreed that on that day, in all churches, the consecration of the human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, king of love and peace, should be solemnly renewed.